Can’t Find Doom (2016) Multiplayer Matches? Try This “Fix”

id Software’s Doom reboot has been out for a couple months now, and while the game’s riveting single-player campaign should be enough to quell the franchise fan’s need for gorey violence, many may want to relish the game’s fast-paced action in competitive online play. The new Doom’s multiplayer hasn’t been received as well as its robust single-player experience and “Snap Map” community-created arenas, but you can’t faulted for wanted to try it at least once, if only to decide whether it’s worth your while.

Unfortunately, the game’s multiplayer seems to have been region-locked. What this means is that you can only play with people in your region. Now, Doom may be popular, but it’s not exactly a game known for its multiplayer, which is why players in certain regions may find themselves waiting endlessly in matchmaking, searching for a lobby. If you bought the PC variant of the game from Steam, and have gone through the same tiresome experience to no avail, read on for a possible solution to this problem.

While there is no easy way to tell how many people in your region are playing Doom’s multiplayer, there is a workaround that will allow you to find multiplayer matches in another region, maybe one where players have been known to find matches without having to wait several minutes. Here’s how that works.

1. Launch the Steam app (and log in if you haven’t already).

2. Select Steam from the top and then click Settings.

3. Within the Settings window, switch to the Downloads section from the left sidebar.

4. Open the dropdown menu under Download Region and change it to your region of choice.

Note: You might want to select a region that is closer to you so as to get better latency (ping) within multiplayer matches. For example if you’re somewhere in South Asia, you’re better off opting for a region within the UK rather than a US download region.

5. Steam will ask you to restart it for the changes to take effect. Restart Steam.

6. Once Steam has been restarted and you’ve logged in, go ahead and launch Doom, switch to Multiplayer and look for a match. If you’ve selected one of the aforementioned regions, you should be able to find a lobby within 3-5 minutes (as of this writing).

That’s it! Go blow up some heads!

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I'm an engineer, blogger, and graphic designer who loves creating and experimenting with different forms of online content when he's not looking for a mix of inspiration and escape in PC gaming, comic books and anime. You can find me on Twitter and Google+.